Disability and Human Rights: Making Media That Matters
By Michele Morgan (Michele@rehab-international.org)

Two recent film festivals, one sponsored by Media That Matters and the other by Human Rights Watch, highlight human rights issues throughout the world, including violence and disability. The festivals not only bring important social, political and environmental topics to the forefront by giving a voice to stories of oppression and hope from around the world, but they also encourage the use of film as a springboard for discussion and action.

In the Media That Matters Festival, "Esmeraldas: Petroleum and Poverty", a short documentary, focuses on the intense human suffering that occurred when a Texaco oil refinery exploded in 1998 and destroyed an Afro-Ecuadorian community. The poor, minority community dependent on the contaminated river and soil for survival suffers from continual after effects of oil poisoning. Burns from the explosion, plus innumerable birth defects, increased cancer rates, open lesions and severe skin burns caused by the oil in the bathing and drinking water, spares no one, least of all the children. The community has no option but to continue to rely on their one source of water, the contaminated river. In Esmeraldas there is neither environmental clean up, nor adequate medical or rehabilitation service, only a community struggling to survive on the edge of existence.

"As We Sleep," another short documentary in the Media that Matters Festival, follows the journey of Marcie, a middle-aged woman with cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities, and her family as they struggle to deal with aftermath of Marcie's rape by an employee at her assisted living facility. Her parents, who move Marcie back home, try to help her deal with depression, anxiety and a subsequent pregnancy caused by the sexual abuse. According to the filmmakers, 72% of assisted living homes in America reported incidents of sexual abuse in 2000. And as evidenced by Marcie, only the suffering is immeasurable.

"State of Denial" shown at the Human Rights Watch Festival is a powerful documentary that takes an unprecedented look at the AIDS epidemic in South Africa through the intimate and powerful stories of six individuals. The film's point of view is that while President Mbeki and his administration continue to neglect the issue, thousands of people suffer and die for lack of health education, medical resources and support. Mary, an HIV positive mother of two infected children, fights to get access to treatment and affordable medications for her children and herself. Lucky Mazibuko, a popular journalist, speaks candidly about his own HIV positive status, the widespread denial that exists in South Africa and the difficulties of living openly with the disease in a culture where fear and denial reign. Others, including a retired nurse who devotes herself to caring for those with HIV at a home-based care program, and South Africa's Health Minister, Mantu Tshabalala-Msimang, presented as an example of how the administration fails to effectively address the AIDS crisis, tell their stories and round out this powerful piece by offering a glimpse into this complex issue.

Two additional films address different types of violence. "Jiyan," a film produced in Iraqi Kurdistan, is a drama about the building of an orphanage five years after the infamous chemical and biological bombing of Halabja by the Iraqi military. It tells the story of a community and a young girl, Jiyan, struggling to live with the aftermath of the physical and emotional scars left by the brutal attack. "Asylum," a short documentary, follows Baba, a young Ghanian woman, as she must choose between a man her father wants her to marry and the female genital mutilation her father insists upon and freedom by fleeing to the U.S. Unfortunately, this promise of freedom eludes Baba as she becomes entangled in the immigration system.

Now in its third year, The Media That Matters Film Festival hopes to inspire people to speak out and take action for social change. The Festival is streamed on Media That Matters' web site and it is also available on DVD. Contact Media That Matters to order a copy.

Started in 1994 in New York, as a way to put a face on human rights abuses, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival expanded to London in 1996. More information on the movies and upcoming festivals can be found on the Human Rights Watch web site.